Navy Wool Loom-Woven Prayer Rug, Baş Başa Series

Baş Başa means being alone with oneself, with one's soul and with one's Creator, and the prayer rug named after it is drawn to that: a navy wool loom-woven prayer rug, plain across the whole field, with a single red mark set where the forehead rests in prostration. Wool surface, cotton foundation, woven on looms in Anatolia. Almost every prayer rug carries an arch, a lamp, columns, a border of writing. This one refuses all of it.

01The tone of the ground

Navy fills the field the way an unlit sky does, and the single red point is the only thing to look at — placed exactly where the eyes rest in prostration, so that the design does the work of gathering attention instead of dividing it.

02The mark of slow weaving

The absence of pattern is the design decision, and it is a braver one than it looks in a category where ornament is expected. It is woven on looms in Anatolia, and afterwards the fringes are knotted by hand, one at a time, by women in the district — the same finishing the house uses on its rugs.

03How it feels underfoot

Wool gives the surface a matt, firm hand with no shine to it; cotton underneath keeps it flat and square, which matters more on a prayer rug than on anything else in a house. The pile is low and drops very little.

04From the hand of the weaver

It should be professionally washed rather than put through anything at home. Loom-woven in Anatolia, machine structure with hand finishing. Wool surface over a cotton foundation — matt, firm, and without shine. Navy throughout, with a single red mark at the point of prostration. No arch, no lamp, no border figures; the plainness is the design. Fringes knotted individually by women in the district. Low pile with very little drop, and it lies flat and square. Professional washing rather than anything domestic. Most prayer rugs are made to be looked at; this one was made to be knelt on and then forgotten about, which is the harder brief.